Coal-tipple



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. W. ROSENSTBEL.

GOAL TIPPLE.

Patented Jan. 5. 1886.

Mille 5525- 2 Sheets-FSheet 2. W. W. ROSENSTEEL. GOAL TIPPLE.

No. 333,891. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

(No Model.)

MillLEEEEE- HMEILLJL Q y UNITED STAT-Es PATENT OFFICE. I

WILLIAM W. ROSENSTEEL, OF VANOEFOBT, ASSIGNOR TO OLIVER BROTHERS &PHILLIPS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

COAL-TIPPLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,891, dated January5. 1886.

Application filed September 29, 1885. Serial No. 178,580.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WV. RosEN- STEEL, of Vancefort, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Coal- Tipples; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of my improved tipple,and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.

Like letters and figures of reference indicate like parts in each.

In the drawings, 2 represents an inclined frame or trestle, on which areset the tippletrucks used in conveying coal and like merchandise fromthebottom of the frame to its summit, where it is dumped into cars. Thelower part of the tipple-frame is made broad enough to accommodate twotracks, 3 and 4,

placed side by side; but near the upper end it is made narrower, and theinner rails of the tracks cross each other, afrog, 5, being placed atthe intersection. Atruck, 6, is mounted on each of the tracks 3 4, andeach is provided with atraction-cable. The cable 7 of one truck iswrapped several times around the periphery of a'rotatory sheave or drum,8,

j onrnaled in bearings above the summit of the tracks, and the cable 7of the other truck is wrapped around a second sheave, 9, journaled endto end beside the sheave 8. The cables. after inwrapping the sheaves 8and 9, pass downward to a common drum or roller, 10, to which they areaffixed, and around which they are wrappedinopposite directions. Thedrum 10 is power-driven, and it is clear that as it r0- tates it willwind one of the traction-cables in one direction to raise the car, andwill unwind the other cable, so as to allow its car to descend thetrack. By reversing the motion of the drum the cars are moved inrespectively opposite directions from those just described, so that thetrucks can be moved up and down the tracks at the will of the operatorof the main drum. As one car moves up the track, the other descends, andvice versa, the meeting-point being below the frog (No model.)

5. At the upper end of the inclined tracks there is situated a truck,11, the rear wheels of which are mounted on a section of track, 12. Ithas its platform in the same line with the track-frame 2.

On the bed of the truck 11 are two sets of rails, 13 and 14,whichcorrespond to the tracksections 3 and 4, and when the truck is loweredto the position shown in Fig. 1, with its platform abutting against theend of the frame 2, the ends of the rails 13 14: and 3 4 arerespectively in conjunction with each other.

In advance of the track-section 12 is another section of track, 15,which is considerably more inclined from the horizontal than the former,and on which the front wheels of the truck 11 are mounted. Thusconstructed, when one of the trucks 6 is raised to the top of thetrackframe 2 by the cable, it passes onto the platform of the truck 11,and the front wheels of the former truck engage a stop horn or bar, 16,at the forward end of the latter. Then further traction of the truck 6will exert a strain upon the stophorn 16,and will move the truck farenough to cause its forward wheels to rise upon the tracks 15 into theposition shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The upper truck, 6, is then inan inclined position, and upon opening its endgate 17 the coal will fallthereout into a chute, 18, whose receiving end is situ-. ate beneath thebed of the truck 11 and in the path of the falling coal. The bed of thelatter truck is suitably cut away to allow passage of the coal, and themouth of the chute projects within the vertical space between the uppertrack-frame, 2, and the lower tracks, 12. The delivery end of the chute18 rests within the mouth of a basket-chute, 19, which is sus pended byrods or chains 20 20 from an up: per frame, 21, which constitutes thebeam of a weighingscales. The frame 21 is arranged on a platform, 22,which, surmounts the track frame 2. A gate, 23, is pivoted to the sidesof the basket-chute 19 at the ends of arms 24,-, so as to be capable ofbeing lowered to close the chute and of being raised to open it. Thegate is fastened by a chain, 25, to the track frame 2, so that when thechute is lowered, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, the chain willuphold the gate and keep it open, and that when the chute is raised intothe position shown in dotted lines the gravity of the gate will cause itto adjust itself at the end of the chute and to close the latter. Thechute is thus raised and lowered by means of the cable 20, which passesaround a drum, 27, on the weighing-frame 21,and is attached to acounter-weight, 26, which depends therefrom. This weight is suflicientlyheavy to raise the chute, when empty, into the position shown by dottedlines. The periphery of the drum 27 is fitted with a brake-strap, 28,operated by a hand-lever, 29, by means of which the rotation of the drumand motion of the chute may be retarded or checked. Suppose, now, thebasket-chute to be in the position shown in Fig. 1 by the dotted lines,and one of the cars 6 to have mounted the truck 11 and to have beentipped so as to discharge its coal into the chute 18. The coal will thenrun into the weighingchute, which is prevented from falling by pressureon the brake-lever 29, and is so held long enough for the operator tonote the weight of the coal indicated by the scales. The brakelever isthen released, and the weighing-chute descends of its owngravity,thereby automatically opening the end-gate 23, and allowing thecoal to fall into a car, 30, set on a track underneath the chute.

Two other cars, 31 and 32, are shown in the drawings situate beside thecar 30. They are utilized in receiving coal from the tipple, as follows:The bottom of the fixed chute 18 isa screen, and underneath it andextending lengthwise therewith is a chute, 33,which discharges into anauxiliary chute, 34., the end of which is situate over the car 30. Thebottom of the chute 33 is also a screen of finer texture than the bottomof the chute 18, and beneath the former is a chute, 35, which dischargesthrough a reflexed chute, 36, into the car 32. There is a valve, 37, inthe bottom of the chute 34,which, on being opened, as shown in Fig. 1,causes coal descending this chute to fall through the bottom of thechute into the car 31, and when closed allows it to pass on into the car30. Suppose the valve to be open. Goal then passing through the chute 18will discharge its fine nut coal and dust through the meshes of itsscreen onto the chute 33, and the dust will fall through the latter ontothe chute 35. In this way the coal will be sorted, the large lumpsdischarging into the car 30, the nut coal entering the car 31, and thedust or slack entering the car 32.

Where the inner rails of the tracks 3 and 4 cross each other, as shownin Fig. 2 and before explained, it is necessary to provide means forremoving the traction-cables of the descending car out of the way of theascending car after the latter has passed the crossingfrog 5. I do thisby a peculiar method of wrapping the cables around the drum 10 andsheaves 8 and 9, beginning the wrapping at the outer ends of the drumand wrapping them toward the middle. Then, as the car descends, thecable, unwrapping, will move to ward the end of the drum and away fromthe path of the ascending car, whose cable trav els in the oppositedirection toward the center of the drum and the inner end of its sheave.When the truck approaches the upper end of the tipple and rides therails beyond their point of inward curvature, the traction-cable will'be at the inner ends of its sheave and in a vertical line with thecenter of the ascending truck. In this way a lateral pull on the truckis prevented, the traction is made safer, and wear on the rails reducedto a minimum.

In the drawings I have shown the sheaves 8 and 9 ofconsiderablewidth,and having smooth surfaces, so that the inwrapping cable willfollow the motion of the main coil on the drum 10. The same result maybe had by using small grooved pulleys in place of the rollersheaves, andmounting them on shafts wormthreaded, so as to move them laterallythereon in the proper direction as they rotate with motion of thetrucks.

The novel features of my invention are, the arrangement of the tracks 3and 4, which cross each other at the frog 5, thereby enabling the upperpart of the track frame or trestle to be made comparatively narrow, andpermitting the use of a single tipping truck, 11, for both the cars 6.The use of the auxiliary truck 11 is also novel, and is useful,becausethe coal can be dumped through its bed directly upon the chute 18 clearof the cross-ties of the trestle, whereas in dumping directly from thetrucks 6 the ties form a considerable obstruction and tend to break upthe coal. Arranged in this way,the dumping of the coal is entirely underthe control of the engineer, who operates the drum 10, and the cars canbe dumped without nnhitching the traction-cables, as has heretofore beennecessary. The result is a saving of labor and expense.

The remaining features of my invention are, the two sheaves or rolls 8and 9 and the single drum 10, the two car-cables 7 and 7 inwrapping thedrum in different directions from the ends toward the middle thereof,whereby a rotation of the drum in a single direction will move one truckup and the other truck downthe trestle, and will remove their cables outof the way where the tracks cross each other, as shown.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a coal-tipple, the combination of a truck, 6, mounted on a track,a traction-cable for moving the truck on the track, an auxiliary truckor car, 11, situate at the terminus of said track and having its bedflush therewith, so that the truck 6 may be drawn thereon, and a secondinclined track, on which said truck 11 is set, whereby motion of thelatter thereon will tilt the truck 11 and its superinr posed truck todischarge the burden, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In a coal-tipple, the combination of a truck, 6, mounted on a track,a traction-cable for moving the truck on the track, an auxiliary truckor car, 11, situate at the terminus of said track and having its bedflush therewith, so that the truck 6 may be drawn thereon, a stop, 16,on the truck 11 in the path of the truck 6, and a second inclined track,on which said truck 11 is set, whereby when the truck 6 mounts the truck11 and engages the stop 16 the traction of the cable will tilt thelatter truck and its superimposed truck 6 to discharge the burden,substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination,in acoal-tipple,of an inclined trestle, 2, havingseveral sets of tracks, 3 and 4, arranged thereon side by side, trucksmounted on said tracks and provided with traction-cables so arrangedthat as one truck ascends the track its fellow will descend, anauxiliary tipping-truck, 11, at the upper terminus of said tracks, forreceiving the trucks 6, the inner rails of the tracks crossing eachother above the passing-point of the trucks,

summit of the tracks, a driven drum or windlass, 10, situate below thesame, and tractioncables 7 and 7, attached to said trucks, passing overthe sheaves 8 and 9, and inwrapping the drum 10 in respectively oppositedirections, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day ofAugust. A. D. 1885.

WILLIAM W.

Witnesses:

THOMAS W. BAKEWELL, W. A. SCHMIDT.

ROSENSTEEL.

